These devices, known in the mountain climbing field with the term “belay device” or safety device, may be used both in outdoor and indoor climbing, for example in training gyms and they allow to guarantee the safety of one or more climbers in case of emergency, blocking the safety rope/s they are belayed to, thereby avoiding their fall. These devices are usually used to belay a climber (the leader), climbing a face, to a partner on the ground, called in jargon “belayer”, which avoids the free fall of the secured climber by means of the belay device, in case of mistake during the climb with the consequent loss of secure grip hold.
This technique is known as “belaying the leader”, in which the leader, getting ready to climb, is assisted and belayed, to a partner on the ground, precisely the belayer, by the belay device, which allows in case of emergency the blocking of the safety rope constrained to the climber, the latter having constrained it to one or more rings (returning or belaying points) present on the face as the climb comes along. The belaying of the leader could be carried out by one or more ropes which are passed inside the belay device.
Further, as afore mentioned, other belay devices are known, which take advantage of the possibility of blocking the safety rope in case of emergency, particularly, the belayer may also performs his/her function when he/she is on the face.
For example, the devices may also be used to belay one or more partners having to carry out the ascent, this technique is known as “belaying the follower/s”. In these cases a first climber on the face to be climbed acts as belayer and, by means of the, belay device, he/she controls the safety rope to which a second climber, climbing the face under him/her, is belayed. In case wherein the second climber looses the hold, the belay device constrained to the climber on top, or fixed to a hooking point on the face, allows to block the safety rope and then it avoids the partner fall. As said, it is possible to belay two followers too, both constrained to his/her own safety rope which is passed inside the belay device.
Further, in addition to belay the leader and one or more followers, it is known to use these device as descenders (descender devices or rappelling devices), i.e. to descend a previously climbed face. In fact, the climber carrying the device constrained to himself, takes advantage of the belay device able to block the rope sliding in its inside and then to adjust, in case by appropriate means the device is provided with, or simply manually, the descent speed by changing the friction exerted by the device on the rope. Further, following the fall of belayed climber/s, both in case of belaying the leader and one or two followers, the currently available devices allow to unlock the device from the position in which the rope is blocked and to carry out a descent controlled by the climber up to the ground or a secure point on the face.
The belay devices known in the art adjust the rope slide and they block it by applying a braking action, usually producing friction on the safety rope. By doing so it is possible to adjust the slide, to slow down or block the rope slide, thereby avoiding the fall of the climber to be belayed.
Manual or semiautomatic devices are known, the latter snapping automatically in the emergency position in which they block the rope, in case of emergency and then following the sudden tensioning of the rope because of the climber fall.
On the contrary, in manual devices, in case of fall, the person who constrained to himself the device to belay the climbing partner, has to manually displace the safety rope in the position in which the device could slow down the slide and cause the block thereof.
For example, the manual belay device DOBLE V-ROW commercialized by Aludesign SpA company, is provided with a conveniently shaped spout having a housing inside which the rope is forced to pass through in case of climber fall. The particular housing shape allows to apply the friction on the rope, by a blocking karabiner which, following the rope tensioning because of the fall of the belayed climber, allows the friction to be applied on the rope together with the device body, thereby limiting the force applied by the hand the person belaying, the falling partner has to apply to stop the rope.
This type of belay device, even if it is very cheap, guarantees a security and effectiveness level of blocking the rope, depending on the experience and skills of the person using the device, the belayer which belays the partner. Further, also when the rope blocking position is reached, the user must hold firmly the safety rope in his hand avoiding the latter from displacing from the housing which causes the block by friction. Other devices of this type are for example the ATC-GUIDE commercialized by Black Diamond Equipment, and the device REVERSO by PETZL company, which can to be used both as belay device for the leader or one or two followers as the preceding device, being all provided with two throats for the passage of the two ropes, and also as descender devices. Despite this, as afore said, these devices, although they are very cheap, do not guarantee appropriate security levels and they have a number of drawbacks due to their correct positioning and use. Particularly it has to be mentioned that when one or two followers have to be belayed, the device is fixed to a hooking point fixed to the face, usually named “belay point”, for example composed of a metallic ring, a karabiner fixed directly to the face or by a rope or similar means. It should be noticed that the correct positioning of the device makes a decisive influence in its operation, in fact, the blocking karabiner, that is what allows to create friction on the rope in case of fall determining its blocking, must be free to move and its displacement should not be limited in any way. In fact, it is necessary that the blocking karabiner is not obstructed by the climber belaying the follower's, or it has to be avoided that the ropes themselves impede and obstruct the movement of the blocking karabiner. This fact does not allow to give rope to the leader without frictions.
Further, the devices now available on the market, both of manual and automatic type, suffer from the problem that to guarantee an effective operation, the person using the device to belay one or more climbers, must hold the rope in a predetermined position and with a lot of strength, under penalty of rope slide.
In fact, both rope ends, entering into and exiting from the device, must be held with a lot of strength and attention in the correct position with respect to the device itself, to avoid problems in reaching the rope blocking position.
To overcome these drawbacks the Applicant made a belay device, commercialized with the name of Click-UP, comprising a main body composed of two plates constrained one to another according two planes preferably parallel by a plurality of constraining means, and an opening in the device body allowing to hook a blocking karabiner in the rope, movable inside the opening itself.
The blocking karabiner allows to constrain the device to the belayer harness.
In case of need, and then in case of all of the belayed climber, the tension the rope constrained to the climber is subject to, determines the displacement of the karabiner inside the opening, of which the device is provided with, from the rope unlocking position, which is the usual use condition, to the emergency (blocking) position in which the rope is blocked between the karabiner and a contrast element.
This device allows to constrain effectively and simply the leader, but also one or two followers simply constraining the blocking karabiner to a hooking point fixed to the face rather than to the belayer harness. When the device is constrained to the fixed hooking point on the face by the blocking karabiner, its operation is substantially for the use of belaying the leader. In fact, the blocking of the rope is obtained by the karabiner displacement inside the opening, of which the device body is provided with, towards the position wherein the rope is blocked between the blocking karabiner and a contrast element.
There are a number of studies carried out to improve and render the afore described device safer and more effective. In particular, the present invention has the object to improve the device use as belay device for one or two followers, that is in case wherein as climber who already reached a certain climb point has to aid one or two partners in the a scent.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a belay device allowing to improve the belaying and lowering operations of one or two followers. It is further an object of the present invention to provide a device operating in safe and reliable manner independently from the correct device positioning and the freedom of movement of the blocking karabiner.